Trapping Reform in Wyoming

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Traps Should Be Checked More Often Under New Bill

 

The bill requires only “regular” checking of traps set for mice, gophers, rats, mountain beavers and moles, regardless of whether they are kill traps or live restraining traps.

The current rule requires that live traps set for these animals be checked every 76 hours and kill traps every 30 days.

It’s the first time a major change to trap-check requirements has hit the Oregon Legislature since 2014, when bids to cut these times failed in the Legislature and before the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission.

Supporters see the change as more humane to both targeted and non-targeted animals.

“Obviously, there are Oregonians who would have liked to see a wholesale ban,” said Scott Beckstead, Oregon state coordinator for the Humane Society of the United States, which has pushed for trapping reforms for more than a decade.

“We feel this is a modest, common-sense measure that puts some reasonable regulation on people trapping Oregon’s wildlife,” Beckstead said.

The signage language was added to warn people to keep themselves and their pets away from set traps and harkens back to signing language sought after a dog was killed by a beaver trap at White City’s Denman Wildlife Area in 2005.

Trapping proponents such as the Oregon Outdoor Council, which opposes any new restrictions on trapping, deem the 24-hour requirement unworkable in places such as Eastern Oregon, where some ranches are larger than some Eastern states.

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